Inquiry told of 'scandalous' residential care cost

Queensland's Child Protection Commission of Inquiry has been told it costs an average $400,000 a year to keep a child in residential care.

Commissioner Tim Carmody has heard the cost of keeping children in residential care in Queensland is "scandalous".

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Ryan Haddrick, told the inquiry Queensland has more children in residential care than New South Wales and Victoria, and numbers have doubled to more than 600 in the past five years.